Prepare to Dice Edition

Month: May 2017

Here’s another take on character classes. It came about when I was thinking on the next iteration of Disposable Heroes (some day I’ll publish it, I swear). As I mentioned in the classes as divine law thing, I find it interesting to sometimes, instead of fixing the weird problems in old-school D&D (and other RPGs), to turn them into world building with explanations. Though some systems might be beyond saving (*cough* rapid linear HP *cough*).

This is something I came up with a rather long time ago when I was pondering magic systems. Basically, I’m not too much of a fan of the spell slot system, espescially not in the later editions with their spell bloat. Frankly, I find the 100 page plus spell lists very tedious, especially when there are so damn many attack spells. Stop it with this glorified artillery stuff. Sorry for that rant. Basically I like my magic systems with a lot of utility and multi-function spells if possible, and not too many of them.

This is an idea I got a while ago. It’s based on the concept of rigid character classes from old RPGs. Sometimes you can come up with rather interesting setting information by working backwards from these often illogical and limiting rules.

Maybe this is appropriate here? I’m making a game (in between making my uncountable tabletop RPGs and the not insignificant amount of schoolwork a serious technical institute makes sure you do). It’s a 2d platform / action thing, with weapons and spells and stats and so on. Images below (so they don’t clutter up the feed).

If you roll a “1” for damage, reduce the weapon’s damage die by one step.

This rewards bigger weapons with better durability, and is simple and quick. In essence, the “1” damage does not represent a weak hit, but rather a strong one hitting in a bad spot. You could also link it to the armor of the target struck (for complexity), but then you’d probably have to add in something like a breakage roll too. Armor could possibly work in a similar way.